Graduation Day
"Are you ready to go, Ito?"
The kitsune was retying his hair in his habitual topknot. He looked down at Reiko and said, "I think so. Are we taking anyone else with us?"
She laughed. "Any trouble we find in Matsue is probably going to be something we can handle on our own. I'm not sure any of the others would really appreciate being dragged along on one of our hunts. Though I imagine more than one would enjoy watching the feeding...but never mind." Her fingertips brushed his hand and she leaned against him affectionately. He slid an arm around her and squeezed briefly, then let her loose and walked down the gangplank.
Reiko had to admit that she had become fond of the male kitsune in the two weeks he'd been with them. She didn't love him, not yet--her suspicions were still too strong--but she felt quite affectionate towards him. In part, that had to do with the fact that Ito and Gryphon were the only two of her friends who understood the easy physicality of kitsune nature, the need for affection and touches beyond simply the sexual. Kitsune lived to love and be loved, and sex was only one expression of that. Unfortunately, since sex was also how they fed, it was the one in the fore of everyone's minds.
Were I my old self, I'd have slept with all of them by now, even if I had to disguise myself to do so. I wouldn't have fed more than a sip, but I wouldn't feel I could trust them if I hadn't tasted them. Now...I've been with them for months, and I have not so much as kissed any of them, outside of healing them. How strange I become. How...un-kitsune-like.
She shook her head and caught up with Ito. It didn't matter. Tonight was a hunt, Ito's graduation exercise. Together, they would find their prey, and Ito would feed. He seemed to have a better understanding now of how to control what he drew, but Reiko knew that the temptation was always there to drink too deeply, to kill as one fed.
If he could not control himself, if he killed whoever he fed on tonight, she would probably have to kill him. It would be a deep and harrowing shame, but she was prepared to do it. In her sleeve she had a needle that she had 'borrowed' from Hiroshi's kit; dipped in poison and contained in a small bamboo case, a single scratch would be enough to kill someone twice Ito's size. And if that didn't work...she glanced down at her hands.
It had been a long time since she'd last killed by pulling a soul from a body. But she remembered how. And she doubted that Ito knew she had the ability. He knew so little of kitsune culture that the gifts of the kitsune shaman wouldn't be known to him at all. It was an advantage, and once she kept close.
Together, they walked from the docks into town, talking of inconsequentials. To all outward appearances, they were simply a couple out for a night on the town. Ito's unusual russet hair drew more than a few glances as they walked down the street, as did Reiko's slim body in her scarlet kimono. They stopped before a sake house, and Ito raised an eyebrow. "Here, you think?"
"It's as good a place as any. If we don't find what we're looking for, we can move on."
The place was small and a bit run-down, but well-lit. And the sake, when it was brought, was good. There were only a few people in the sake house at the moment, all of them apparently locals. Ito leaned over and murmured, "We're looking for people from out of town, right?"
"We're going to have to come back some day, likely. Best to find someone who doesn't live here."
A half hour passed; they whiled away the time in conversation and a friendly dice game, which Reiko consistently lost at. People came and went, and she thought they were going to have to find another place to hunt, when through the door came a samurai-ko, with the mon of the Lion house on her shoulder.
She was pretty enough, though tall, and her armor was in good repair. She had the dust of the road on her, and this being outside of Lion territory, it was a good guess that she was traveling. And better yet, on her way in, her glance had lingered on Ito--and on Reiko. The samurai was hungry, too.
And for that alone, she was perfect. Gifts are more valuable when they are wanted, needed, lusted after; and the samurai looked as if she had been away from home a while. She would take what the kitsune could give her gladly, and not mind what they took from her in return.
Ito and she glanced at each other and nodded, then Reiko stood and walked over to the samurai's table. In a soft voice, she said, "Samurai-sama. Are you waiting for someone? If not, my fiance and I would be honored if you shared our table with us."
The samurai smiled. "I'd be happy to share your table. I am Matsu Suki."
"And I am Han Reiko, and this is Takahashi Ito. Please, sit with us a spell. You look like a fellow traveler; where have you been?"
It turned out that Suki had traveled to the south on an errand for her master, the Lion Lord. She was on her way back, and it had been seven weeks since she'd seen her family and friends. She was looking forward to being home. Gentle probing revealed that she had neither husband nor fiance waiting at home.
For their part, Reiko and Ito were (so their story went) in the state of affianced that was nearly as good as married, traveling from Ito's family in a village near Miyazaki to Reiko's family in Tokyo. There they would have another marriage ceremony and be officially married. "It was a political match, but it has turned out rather well. We have...similar tastes in many things." At this, Reiko's hand slipped over to touch the back of the samurai's. She jumped at the contact, turning wide eyes on Reiko, suddenly understanding what was going on...and looking not particularly unhappy about it.
A kitsune hunting alone is a formidably charming thing. Two hunting together can overcome even the sternest of resistance, and the samurai hadn't started out resisting very hard. Even without using their ability to enthrall, they soon enough had her exactly where they wanted her. They laughed and flirted and got the samurai just a little bit drunk, and soon enough they had the samurai saying that she'd rented a room for the night, if they wanted to come with her...
And back to her room they went, where they drank a little more sake and took turns kissing the samurai. Suki was charmingly shy with Reiko, saying that she'd never kissed a girl before outside of the usual play with her childhood friends. But soon she grew bolder, and clothes started coming off.
And after a long, delirious time of simply playing with Suki, Ito began to feed.
Reiko kept in contact with them both, pressing her body close to theirs. The girl's head was thrown back, her eyes closed. Ito was drawing out a thin thread of her life, replenishing his own. Reiko found herself holding her breath as the moment where he would have to stop feeding approached. She felt her own power coiling within her, waiting for the time to arrive.
Ito arched his back, obviously struggling with something within himself, the old instincts and everything he had once been fighting with his new training. Reiko could feel him desperately wanting to throw himself open to this girl, to take everything from her that she could give him, and she could feel him fighting that urge with tooth and claw. She prayed that she had not underestimated the other kitsune.
She could feel him reaching, opening, taking--
And his control slammed down, closing the conduit, breaking the connection.
She found herself shuddering with the two who were entwined beside her as both of them found their release. Her own shiver was not of pleasure, but of relief. Ito had passed his test. She wasn't going to have to kill him.
Not today, at least.
Suki had fallen deeply asleep in moments, as everyone she'd ever fed on did. Ito was barely awake himself, curled up around the samurai, a small, sated smile on his lips.
And for a while, they lay like that, two kitsune curled like parentheses around one tall samurai, open window bringing them the smell of the tide, the sea.
Ito slept and soon Reiko started to nod off. Rhythmic breathing by the samurai was lulling her to sleep. The room started to get lighter and Reiko started awake, thinking that the morning was dawning, but the light was not coming through the windows. Ito's chest was starting to glow with a blue light that grew in strength and pulsed like a heartbeat. It remained motionless for a minute and then the light started to move, travelling under the skin it floated upward into the neck of Ito. It passed, rippling the skin as it went, through the face. Blue light exploded out of Ito's right eye as it passed underneath, bulging the eye out as it went. It finally stopped in the center of his forehead, then as quickly as it started glowing, it stopped, seeming to sink into the brain.
Reiko lifted an eyebrow, curious as to what that could have been. Just as she was thinking about getting up to investigate, Ito sat up.
In a very feminine voice, but one that would send chills up any spine, it said, "The sleeper awakens."
Reiko half lidded her eyes and quickly tried to resume a sleeping breathing rhythm.
The voice continued, "Ah Han Reiko, sleeping so peacefully tonight as you have for many nights now. So old and so foolish, such a simple test for the boy. Now will you trust him? Now will you love him?" Ito's hand brushed through Reiko's hair.
"Probably." Ito smiled. Into his hand, he produced a small vial filled with a clear liquid, a small needle attached to it. Quickly he struck, plunging the needle into the heel of the sleeping samurai. She jerked in her sleep, but folded herself around Reiko and continued to slumber.
"No samurai would do the vile acts that you have perpetrated tonight. Your death will be long and lingering," the Ito creature said, and then turned to Reiko. "Sleep well and long, Reiko, your distraction of the boy has made me late."
The kitsune known as Ito silently left the room.
Reiko lay frozen for only a moment after he left. Late? Late for what? Ah, kami, I have to follow him. Sorry, Suki. If I can, I'll return. She slid out of the samurai's embrace and whispered a spell, her naked form fading to silver and then vanishing. She changed then, nosing the screen open and swiftly shutting it behind herself. He'd gone downstairs, and she followed, nose twitching and ears pricked forward.
She trailed Ito down to the docks. He vanished inside a warehouse, not bothering to close the door behind him. Reiko whined gently; should she follow? If she were caught now, none of her mortals would know where she was. She could be killed now and nobody would ever know her fate.
But the need to know was greater than the risk. She crept inside, so quiet, and dropped to her belly by the door.
She could hear three voices beside Ito's, and the air stank of magic. She could hear Ito's voice, that oddly feminine tone still talking. He was telling them, at that moment, where Akechi was. Then he started telling them about the capture of the Shrike. She almost whined, depsite herself. Dear kami. And I almost took him to Skyhome with us.
He spent a long time talking to them. He referred to one of them as Akemi, but she didn't catch any other names. She put her head down on the smooth wood of the floor, thinking. I have to kill him. But if I kill him, any hope of our race's future dies with him. She'd heard enough, so she rose and slipped out the door once more, knowing that her only hope to survive the rest of the evening was to pretend she'd been sleeping all the while. If Ito suspected what she knew, he would probably kill her out of hand.
On the way back, she worried at the problem of Ito in her mind. If I tell the others, they'll want to kill him. In fact, they may kill him over my objections. That may be a ticklish situation, right there. If I don't tell them, though, he'll be the downfall of all we do. If there was a way to neutralize him without killing him...
But there was. She bore the proof that there was in the sigils that glowed on her body. Lin won't help. But the Demonbane might. If we--I--offered him the right price. She turned that thought over in her mind, wondering fearfully what, exactly, her father would want in return for his help. Am I reduced to asking my most implacable enemy for a favor? Ah, kami, so low am I brought.
She arrived back at the inn the samurai-ko was staying at, and still invisible she slipped upstairs. Outside the room, she cocked her head; she could hear the breathing of the sleeping samurai and none else. Cautiously, she slipped into the room, wary.
There was nothing but Suki, sleeping deeply on the mat. Good, good. I have some time before Ito returns. Best make the most of it. She shed her fox shape and began to explore the samurai-ko's pack. In one of the pockets, she found a charcoal stick and some paper. Perfect. In a hurried hand, she wrote on the paper, characters sloppy in her haste but still readable.
Matsu Suki. I am so sorry, but I am afraid you have been poisoned. It is a slow poison, and I'm not sure how long it takes to kill. I beg you, make your way to a healer soon; perhaps something can be done.
One more thing: if you are pregnant, and you survive the poison, I ask you to keep the child. If it is a girl, it is more important than you can guess.
Again, I am so very sorry, samurai-sama.
Reiko
She folded the note and returned the charcoal to the pocket she'd found it in. Where to leave it so Ito would not see but Suki would find it as soon as she could? Reiko's gaze lit on a pair of boots that were lying near the rest of Suki's armor. The note would be invisible, but when she put her boot on, she would feel the note and, of course, investigate.
Thought was action and soon Reiko, visible once more, was esconced on the mat with Suki wrapped around her. Even knowing that Ito had poisoned her, she was grateful for the contact of skin against skin. It cleared her mind and comforted her. She couldn't get around the need to tell her mortals what had transpired this night, as much for the fact that they would stop talking freely around the male kitsune as for an explanation of why they needed to go to Sapporo, to talk with the Demonbane.
The fear of her father was a cold lump in the pit of her stomach. She remembered the bright pain of the knife along her arms; she had four healing wounds now on them. She had used a very small bit of illusion on them, enough to hide them in the darkness of a lamplit room. If either Suki or Ito had noticed, neither of them had said anything. I'm going to have to face him, knowing what I know. I'm going to have to talk to him. In the darkness of the room, she could admit to herself that the Demonbane frightened her, even more than the prospect of death. Not quite so much as the idea of kitsune passing from the world entirely, but it was close.
And, too, she was daunted by the idea of telling her mortals that they had been harboring a spy. She supposed she would see exactly how persuasuve she could be; her talent for talking people into things would be the only thing between Ito and a swift death by Panda or Funitsu's blade. If she failed, Ito would die.
And hope for her kind would die with him.
She heard the soft sound the the screen sliding back and closed her eyes, slowing her breath to match Suki's. She felt a hand on her shoulder and stirred as if waking, opening her eyes.
Ito looked down at her, fully dressed. He said in a low voice, "It's time to go, Reiko."
She nodded and yawned sleepily. Ito did an excellent impression of being sleep-rumpled, his clothing disarranged as if he'd just pulled it on without really looking. He's good, damn it. He's good. Only mischance betrayed him--and the fact that I didn't feed and was slow to fall asleep.
But her face showed nothing of her thoughts. She pulled on her own clothing quickly and followed Ito out.
Her last sight of Suki, as she carefully slid the screen shut, was of her sprawled on the mat, a soft smile on her face. She fixed that image in her mind, to remember when Ito was trying to charm her. One more innocent who might die because of me. I swear, if he cannot be bound, I will kill him myself.
She only hoped that she could keep that promise.